Biden campaign launches outreach program to seniors through bingo, pickleball
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's plans to protect Social Security and Medicare and lower healthcare costs, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Fla. Biden is trumpeting Medicare’s new powers to negotiate directly with drugmakers on the cost of prescription medications, but a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that any immediate political boost that Biden gets may be limited. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
President Biden’s reelection campaign launched a new program on Tuesday to reach out to seniors through events like bingo and pickleball ahead of November.
The program, Seniors for Biden-Harris, will work to mobilize seniors across the country, with a focus on battleground states. For its launch this week, the campaign is hosting a pickleball tournament in Virginia, a bingo night in Arizona, a pancake breakfast in Georgia, and a phone bank event with second gentleman Doug Emhoff in New Hampshire.
The campaign is also planning to invest in ads during programing that seniors typically watch, including ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today and game shows like the Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, according to the campaign.
Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison will also host a national grassroots call on Wednesday with seniors to kick off the program.
Seniors, who typically turn out in large numbers to vote compared to other demographics, are a pivotal voting bloc in 2024. Biden polled five points ahead of Trump for people 65 and older, with 45 percent saying they would vote for Biden compared to Trump’s 40 percent in May’s New York Times/ Siena College national poll.
The campaign plans to focus on Biden’s work to lower health care costs for seniors as part of its pitch. Democrats’ signature Inflation Reduction Act included a $35 cap on insulin and the ability for Medicare to negotiate with drug companies.
“America’s seniors know that they can’t trust their hard-earned Social Security and Medicare in the hands of convicted felon Donald Trump. And they deserve better than the guy proudly running to increase seniors’ health care and prescription drug costs. Another Trump presidency would be an absolute nightmare for America’s seniors, which is why Seniors for Biden-Harris will be critical to beating Donald Trump once again,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.